07-12-2014
• http://www.unz.com, By Philip Giraldi
Paul has surrounded himself with his father's former advisers, who failed Ron in his electoral bid, and are now trying to triangulate a cluster of policies that will appease various constituencies in or close to the Republican Party.

Rand Paul himself frequently appears to be poorly informed, prone to grandstanding on issues, and it has even been suggested that he lacks core beliefs, though he may indeed be at heart a non-interventionist like his father. The existence of an "inner Rand" who believes in all the right things is a point his supporters make when they try to explain his flips and flops. They observe that he will have to hold his nose and support policies that are not truly in the national interest to make himself electable, at which point he will morph into the libertarian that he has always secretly been. In a sense, they are saying that the end always justifies the means in politics, a position that father Ron Paul would never have taken.